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Jan
01

2024 Annual APTC Tax Seminar

The American Property Tax Counsel is proud to announce that Chicago, Illinois will be the site of an in-person meeting for the 2024 Annual APTC Client Seminar.

Save the Dates! October 23-25, 2024 - Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park - Chicago, Illinois

THEME - How to Hang On While the Market Hangs Fire

APTC seminars provide an exclusive forum where invited guests can collaborate with nationally known presenters and experienced property tax attorneys to develop strategies to successfully reduce and manage property taxes.

FEATURED SPEAKERS 

KC Conway, MAI, CRE

KC Conway is a nationally recognized economist and appraiser with a nearly 40 year career including positions in commercial banks, government service, and academia. Among his more notable career achievements are (i) his role as the commercial real estate subject matter expert providing counsel to the Federal Reserve during the Great Recession of 2007-2010; (ii) serving as the Chief Economist for the CCIM Institute from 2017-2023; and (iii) acting as an instructor for real estate trends at the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council continuously from 2006. In addition, he presently serves as a director of a publicly traded REIT and testifies as an expert witness on valuation and tax appeals in various state and U.S. courts.


William R. Emmons, PhD, has been speaking and writing about the economy, banking and bank regulation, financial markets, housing, household finance and economic policy for more than 30 years. Audiences have included economists, financial regulators, bankers, financial and real-estate professionals, attorneys, engineers, public officials, educators, and the general public. His media exposure includes live interviews on national and local radio and television networks (NPR, PBS, Bloomberg Radio, Scripps TV, local media outlets) and dozens of news articles highlighting his research (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Reuters, American Banker, Forbes, Time, etc.).

Dr. Emmons advised three Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis presidents during his 27- year career at the St. Louis Fed. He also served as Lead Economist for the Bank's Center for Household Financial Stability and for the Supervision, Credit and Learning Division.

Dr. Emmons is president of the Gateway Chapter of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) and serves as a board member of the Missouri Main Street Connection (MMSC).

Dr. Emmons holds a Ph.D. in Finance from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and received bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 
William R. Emmons, PhD

Matt Gersemehl, AAS

Matt Gersemehl, AAS, Appraisal & Valuation Advisory Manager at Trepp, Inc, specializes in commercial valuation with an extensive background in ad valorem assessment administration. With 20 years of commercial real estate experience, he is responsible for developing data analytics and valuation models to enhance the user experience across Trepp's commercial real estate products and to provide guidance to Trepp's Advisory Services team.

Matt Gersemehl served as City Assessor of Bloomington, Minnesota for 12 years prior to join Trepp, LLC.The city of Bloomington is a 2nd ring suburb of Minneapolis, the city had approximately 30,000 parcels valued at just over $17 billion dollars and is also the home of the Mall of America.

Matt Gersemehl holds the Assessment Administration Specialist (AAS) Designation from the International Association of Assessing Officers.He is a 2002 graduate of St Cloud State University's nationally accredited Real Estate program with an emphasis in commercial appraisal. Matt is a Certified General Real Property Appraiser, a licensed Real Estate Broker and a Senior Accredited Minnesota Assessor, (SAMA).

Matt was the Chair of the State Board of Assessors (licensing board for Minnesota Assessors) former Chair of the Information Systems Committee of the MAAO (Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers) and a member of the Tax Court Committee of MAAO and is a certified expert witness in Minnesota Tax Court.He has taught numerous seminars for educational purposes over the years for various groups and associations. 


David Lennhoff is a principal with Lennhoff Real Estate Consulting, LLC, which is officed in Gaithersburg, Maryland. His practice centers on litigation valuation and expert testimony relating to appraisal methodology, USPAP, and allocating assets of a going concern. He has taught nationally and internationally for the Appraisal Institute. International presentations have been in Tokyo, Japan; Beijing and Shanghai, China; Berlin, Germany; Seoul, South Korea; and Mexico City, Mexico. He has been a development team member for numerous Appraisal Institute courses and seminars and was editor of its Capitalization Theory and Techniques Study Guide, 3rd ed. He was the lead developer for the Institute's asset allocation course, Fundamentals of Separating Real and Personal Property from Intangible Business Assets, and edited the two accompanying business enterprise value anthologies. He also authored the Small Hotel/Motel Valuation seminar.

David is a principal member of the Real Estate Counseling Group of America, a national organization of analysts and academicians founded by the late William N. Kinnard, Jr., PhD. He is a past editor-in-chief of and frequent contributor to The Appraisal Journal, and a past recipient of the Journal's Armstrong/Kahn Award and Swango Award.

David Lennhoff, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS


Mary O’Connor, ASA, CRE, CMI, CFE
Mary O'Connor is Principal, Forensics and Valuation Services of Sikich LLP, a national accounting and advisory firm. She has worked exclusively in the field of valuation since 1979 specializing in business valuation and the appraisal of intangible assets for litigation and corporate transactions with special focus in property tax. She has provided consulting and expert witness testimony in Federal, State and local jurisdictions (including US Tax Court, Delaware Chancery and Property Tax Appeal Boards) nationally in a wide range of complex property tax cases for hotels, senior living centers, big box stores, manufacturing, theatres, healthcare facilities, mining and agribusiness properties. Prominent tax appeal cases include the Glendale Hilton, the JW Marriott at LA Live (OGP), SHC Half Moon Bay, DFS duty-free shopping at San Francisco Airport, Omni La Costa Resort, Disney Yacht & Beach Club, and the Desert Regional Hospital.

She speaks frequently about intangible asset valuation in property tax appeal and has commented extensively on the various whitepapers published by the IAAO. She is a Senior Member of the American Society of Appraisers accredited in Business Valuation and is certified by Marshall Valuation Service in the application of Cost Approach methodology. She holds the CMI designation from IPT and is a Counselor of Real Estate (CRE). She received APTC's Katz Memorial Award for contributions to valuation for property tax and the American Society of Appraisers Lifetime Achievement Award. 


MEMBER SPEAKERS 

Angie Adolph is a partner in the Baton Rouge office of Kean Miller. She joined the firm in 2011, and practices in the tax and municipal finance groups. Angie represents Louisiana, national, and international clients in a variety of tax and corporate matters. In addition to representing clients before the Louisiana Board of Tax Appeals, the Louisiana Tax Commission, and in the Louisiana courts, she has special experience representing taxpayers in property tax incentive negotiations, including Payments in Lieu of Taxes. Angie is the firm's representative to the American Property Tax Counsel, an association of property tax firms with members throughout the United States and in Canada.

Angie also has extensive experience in bond transactions and in the development of Public-Private Partnerships and Cooperative Endeavor Agreements. She is a member of the National Association of Bond Lawyers and is listed in the "Red Book" of bond professionals. Prior to joining Kean Miller, Angie practiced in the tax and municipal finance areas for over 15 years with a local law firm. 

Angela Adolph, Esq.

Brittany N. Dowd, Esq.

 Brittany Dowd is an Associate at Elias, Books, Brown & Nelson, P.C. Brittany's areas of practice include litigation and appellate law primarily related to state and local ad valorem taxation and energy and oil and gas issues.

Prior to joining Elias Books, Brittany co-founded a legal startup that provided quality legal research and writing services to law firms and employed‫.

Brittany grew up in the Dallas area and graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Law with her Juris Doctor in 2014 after earning her undergraduate degree from OU in 2010 where she was a National Merit Scholar. While in law school, Brittany served as editor-in-chief of the American Indian Law Review and received American Jurisprudence awards for academic excellence in Legal Research & Writing. Shortly after graduating, she moved to Washington State with her husband, who was an active-duty service member. While in Washington, she served as a judicial law clerk for two judges at Division III of the Washington State Court of Appeals. Brittany returned home to Oklahoma in 2017.


Eric S. Kassoff specializes in real estate tax litigation, and has over 35 years of industry experience in all facets of commercial real estate. He regularly appears before such tribunals as the Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation, the Maryland Property Tax Assessment Appeals Boards, and the Maryland Tax Court.

As Maryland Department Chairman, Eric has litigated some of the most complex matters in Maryland real property tax law as well as several cases of first impression which have established landmark precedents. Since 1987, he has represented tens of thousands of tax cases, navigating them through the complicated triennial appeal process resulting in the creation of billions of dollars in value for his clients' real estate holdings.

Eric is also the proud recipient of the 2017 AJC Washington Civic Achievement Award for his philanthropic and pro bono work locally and internationally. In addition, he and his wife Kerry were awarded the Benjamin Ourisman Memorial Award for Civic Achievement in 2020, which recognizes individuals whose efforts and achievements have improved life in our community.

Eric, a native Washingtonian, currently serves as Public Affairs Chair to NAIOP DC I MD and is a founding member of the chapter. He currently serves on NAIOP's National Board of Directors and is a past chairman of the State and Local Legislative Subcommittee. Eric also has served on the Montgomery County Executive's Office Market Working Group and has served as a member of the Montgomery County Office of Economic Development's Subcommittee on Infrastructure Finance. He is an instructor in the Georgetown University Masters in Professional Studies Real Estate Program and a former Member of the Board of Directors for the Maryland-National Capital Building Industry Association. Eric has served as the General Counsel and as a Member on the Board of Directors of the Greater Washington Jewish Community Center and as a Member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington.

Mr. Kassoff holds a B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in Finance and Accounting from Boston University and a J.D. from the Boston University School of Law. Mr. Kassoff, a native Washingtonian, is a member of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Pennsylvania Bars.

Eric Kassoff, Esq.

Molly Phelan, Esq.

Molly is a partner in the Chicago Office of Siegel Jennings, a national property tax law firm. She is a third-generation property tax attorney from Chicago. As a litigator and trusted advisor, she collaborates with Owners, Asset Managers, Acquisition teams and Tax Departments to identify, create and execute property tax reduction strategies. She becomes a member of her clients' management team. Her goal is to maximize and protect the full potential of real estate assets, minimize related tax liabilities, and resolve disputes with tax authorities and government entities.

Molly's client experience ranges from family owned 1031 portfolios to national commercial investment funds, including special use properties such as hospital campuses to multi-million-dollar manufacturing facilities.

Her comprehensive understanding of the commercial real estate market was developed in part through her time as a real estate broker in the Chicago area prior to starting her legal career. Molly regularly represents clients in hearings before review boards, local assessors' offices, the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, and the circuit courts. 


For close to five years, Kathleen represented clients in the State of California (including a number of fortune 500 companies) in all aspects of employment law, from compliance to advice to litigating in state and federal court. Kathleen was a member of a three-person trial team that won a unanimous jury verdict in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Kathleen's practice now encompasses a variety of assessment and property taxation matters for both private and public sector clients throughout Ontario and Canada.

Kathleen represents taxpayers and municipalities before the Assessment Review Board and Superior Courts in valuation disputes for all types of properties including office buildings and industrial properties. She advises clients on all matters relating to assessment and municipal taxation. 

Kathleen Poole, Esq.

Wyatt Swinford, Esq.

Wyatt Swinford is a Partner in Elias, Books, Brown & Nelson, P.C.'s litigation group. His practice focuses on a wide variety of litigation, appellate, and administrative proceedings, including issues relating to ad valorem taxation, the oil and gas industry, and bankruptcy law. Wyatt is active in the firm's state and local tax appeal practice, largely involving property tax valuations of commercial property in the energy sector, including upstream and midstream assets, along with interstate Commerce Clause issues. Wyatt also handles ad valorem cases covering a wide range of other commercial property, including telecommunications assets, apartment complexes, hotels, retail shops, and other real estate. In the oil and gas industry, Wyatt has represented clients in midstream contract disputes, surface use clashes, class action royalty underpayment cases, industry regulation, and mineral title curative actions. Wyatt is also involved in the firm's bankruptcy practice, including representing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee and representing creditors in Chapter 11 liquidations.

Wyatt is active in state and local legal associations. Since 2018, Wyatt has served on the Board of Directors for the Young Lawyers Division of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, helping to organize events to raise funds for the Oklahoma Regional Food Bank. Wyatt has also been an associate with the Luther L. Bohanon Inn of Court. In 2019, Wyatt was selected to be a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association's Leadership Academy.

A native of Okemah, Oklahoma, Wyatt graduated from University of Oklahoma College of Law with his Juris Doctorate in 2015 and received a bachelor's degree in Agribusiness from Oklahoma State University in 2011. While at Oklahoma State, Wyatt served as the school's mascot, Pistol Pete. Between his undergraduate and law school studies, Wyatt worked for the U.S. House of Representatives Agriculture Committee in Washington D.C.


Nicholas Vitti is a seasoned commercial real estate and land use development lawyer who is Chair of Murtha Cullina's Real Estate practice. Nick has represented commercial property owners in a variety of matters, including extensive experience in real property tax advice and appeals; purchase, sale and leasing transactions; and land use development. Representing a broad spectrum of industries, Nick's clients range from nationally known retailers, communications and self-storage companies to businesses, restaurants, private clubs and developers.

Nick has prevailed in high-stakes, high-profile, highly contentious cases across Connecticut, including a three-year property valuation challenge for the affiliate of a national telecommunications and mass media company that resulted in a fair market value reduction of approximately $37 million and tax savings of approximately $3.4 million, having a significant positive impact on the client's profitability. Nick handled tax appeal and litigation matters for an iconic national retailer, a national developer and manager of distinctive apartment homes in Connecticut and a prestigious yacht club.

Taking a pragmatic approach to his law practice, Nick explains legal complexities in laymen's terms without overcomplicating issues for his clients. He is committed to the principles of respect and collaboration, whether listening to a client's concerns, negotiating terms of a deal or advocating a client's position.

Nick received his J.D. from Quinnipiac University School of Law and his B.A. from Providence College.

Nicholas W. Vitti Jr., Esq.

Bart Wilhoit, Esq.

Bart Wilhoit is an experienced trial attorney with years of practice successfully representing businesses in civil and commercial disputes, state and local tax controversies, eminent domain litigation, tort and commercial litigation and administrative matters. Bart has successfully represented clients in all Arizona state courts including the Superior Courts, Arizona Tax Court and appellate courts.

Bart is licensed to practice in Arizona and Nevada. He is experienced in all phases of litigation, including investigation and evaluation of cases, complex discovery, settlement and alternative dispute resolution, jury and bench trials, arbitrations and appeals. Bart has broad litigation and trial experience in complex commercial litigation matters with an emphasis on valuation related litigation in commercial disputes, contract disputes, state and local tax controversies and all stages of the eminent domain/condemnation process.

Bart takes a pragmatic approach to his clients' matters – considering and evaluating options and potential outcomes from the onset to effectively and efficiently counsel his clients. He is dedicated to providing quality personal and client service, efficient and aggressive representation and dedicated to strong client relationships.

Bart is a graduate of Arizona State University and the UCLA School of Law. A native of Arizona, Bart is married with three children and enjoys all of the outdoor experiences Arizona has to offer. He also enjoys travel and playing music in his band. 

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Apr
23

2023 Annual APTC Client Seminar

The American Property Tax Counsel is proud to announce that Chicago, Illinois will be the site of an in-person meeting for the 2023 Annual APTC Client Seminar.

Save the Dates! October 11-13, 2023 - Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park - Chicago, Illinois

THEME - Valuation on the Cutting Edge: Utilizing Data in an Evolving Market

APTC seminars provide an exclusive forum where invited guests can collaborate with nationally known presenters and experienced property tax attorneys to develop strategies to successfully reduce and manage property taxes.

FEATURED SPEAKERS

Anthony Barna,  MBA, CRE, MAI, SRA

Anthony Barna is Managing Director and consulting appraiser for Integra Realty Resources-Pittsburgh. He has been actively engaged in valuation and consulting since 1991 and his practice specializes in complex assignments for litigation support, eminent domain, tax assessment and financing.

Mr. Barna us a certified general real estate appraiser in Pennsylvania and holds the MAI and SRA professional designations from the Appraisal Institute and the CRE designation from the Counselors of Real Estate. He has been qualified to provide expert witness testimony before courts throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as in Virginia, West Virginia and Connecticut. Mr. Barna was trained as a biomedical engineer at Boston University (B.S. 1984) and has a graduate degree in finance from Duquesne University (MBA 1988). 


Economist and Futurist Kiernan "KC" Conway, CCIM, CRE, MAI is the mind trust behind Red Shoe Economics, LLC, an independent economic forecasting and consulting firm furthering KC's mission as The Red Shoe Economist by providing organic research initiatives, reporting and insights on the impact of Economics within the commercial real estate industry. KC is a nationally recognized industry thought leader and Subject Matter Expert with expertise in Macro Economics, Valuations, Ports & Logistics, Banking Regulation, Real Estate Finance, MSA level market monitoring, Environmental Risk Management, Housing Economics and Tax Appeals.

A proud graduate of Emory University with more than 30 years' experience as a lender, credit officer, appraiser, instructor, and economist; KC is recognized for accurately forecasting real estate trends and ever-changing influences on markets all across the United States. With credentials from the CCIM Institute, Counselors of Real Estate and the Appraisal Institute, KC currently serves as Chief Economist of the CCIM Institute and as an Independent Director for Monmouth REIT MNR.

He is a gifted and prolific speaker having made more than 850 presentations to industry, regulatory and academic organizations in the last decade, and has been published in many national and regional newspapers and journals with frequent contributions to radio and television programming. 

KC Conway, MAI, CRE

William R. Emmons, PhD
Bill Emmons is Adjunct Lecturer at the Olin Business School of Washington University in St. Louis. Previously he was Lead Economist in Supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He is President of the St. Louis Gateway Chapter of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE).

Mr. Emmons received a PhD degree in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He received bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mr. Emmons is married with three children.

Peter Helland, MAI, AI-GRS, joined Newmark Valuation & Advisory in 2019 and currently serves as a Senior Vice President in the Chicago office.Pete is responsible for appraisal assignments; expert witness testimony; litigation support; client outreach; business development; and appraisal review assignments. His recent work has focused on assessment appeal assignments across the bulk of the Midwestern states and beyond.As a Midwest team leader for the Litigation Support & Consulting specialty practice at Newmark, his practice continues to expand for a number of clients including national/regional credit tenants, corporate office operators, and national/regional law firms. He has experience as an industry speaker on a national/regional scale for the Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT), American Bar Association (ABA), Women's Property Tax Association (WPTA), and Illinois Property Assessment Institute (IPAI). Pete teaches the Assessment Appeal Report Writing 7-hour course for the Appraisal Institute, which he co-developed as approved continuing education in four states.

Mr. Helland completed his demonstration appraisal report for his MAI designation on a big box retail property, which has been a specific property type of expertise for litigation.He received his undergraduate degree from the Purdue University in business management and finance. He serves as Vice President for the Chicago Chapter of the Appraisal Institute and will be President in 2024. Pete also serves as the Property Tax Program Chair for the Chicago Chapter of IPT.

Peter Helland, MAI, AI-GRS

David Lennhoff, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS
David Lennhoff is a principal with Lennhoff Real Estate Consulting, LLC, which is officed in Gaithersburg, Maryland. His practice centers on litigation valuation and expert testimony relating to appraisal methodology, USPAP, and allocating assets of a going concern. He has taught nationally and internationally for the Appraisal Institute. International presentations have been in Tokyo, Japan; Beijing and Shanghai, China; Berlin, Germany; Seoul, South Korea; and Mexico City, Mexico. He has been a development team member for numerous Appraisal Institute courses and seminars and was editor of its Capitalization Theory and Techniques Study Guide, 3rd ed. He was the lead developer for the Institute's asset allocation course, Fundamentals of Separating Real and Personal Property from Intangible Business Assets, and edited the two accompanying business enterprise value anthologies. He also authored the Small Hotel/Motel Valuation seminar. 

David is a principal member of the Real Estate Counseling Group of America, a national organization of analysts and academicians founded by the late William N. Kinnard, Jr., PhD. He is a past editor-in-chief of and frequent contributor to The Appraisal Journal, and a past recipient of the Journal's Armstrong/Kahn Award and Swango Award.

Mary O'Connor, ASA, CFE, is the partner-in-charge of Forensic and Valuation services. She specializes in business valuation and the appraisal of tangible and intangible assets for litigation and financial statement reporting with special focus in intangible assets in property tax appeal, securities, and transaction matters. She also possesses extensive experience with fairness and solvency opinions.

Mary has provided opinions to a wide variety of public and private clients in a range of industries including health care, governmental entities, agricultural businesses and food companies, senior living, technology, financial services, automotive, hospitality/gaming, manufacturing, natural resources, retail, utilities, waste management/recycling and real estate development. She has also provided litigation consulting and expert witness testimony to federal, state and local jurisdictions (including U.S. Tax Court, Delaware Chancery and Property Tax Appeals Boards) nationally and internationally in cases related to business valuation, lost profits damage analysis, diminution of business value, fraudulent conveyance, shareholder dispute, intangible assets in property assessment, breach of contract, fraud, estate taxation, marital dissolution, sale/leaseback, subrogation, ability to pay, insurance defense, condemnation and bankruptcy matters for both Plaintiffs and Defendants.

Mary O'Connor, ASA, CFE

Eric Schneider, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS
Eric Schneider is a Senior Appraiser with Jones, Roach, & Caringella, Inc., a real estate valuation and consulting firm that specializes in litigation support throughout the United States. Mr. Schneider has extensive experience with the appraisal of commercial and residential real estate, as well as review experience for litigation matters. His clients include government agencies, law firms, corporations, and private clients.

An active member of the valuation community, Mr. Schneider serves on various committees and boards related to the appraisal profession, including the Appraisal Institute and the International Right of Way Association. His service includes chairing the Appraisal Institute's national designation committee and Leader Development and Advisory Council. He is also a member of The Appraisal Journal review panel, an instructor for the Appraisal Institute, and a frequent presenter at legal, valuation, and university events.

MEMBER SPEAKERS


Jay W. Dobson is a partner with the law firm of Elias, Books, Brown & Nelson, P.C. in Oklahoma City. His practice is focused primarily on property tax, oil and gas law, commercial litigation, and real property law. Jay has a diverse property tax practice including wind and solar, natural gas power plants, mining facilities, pipeline systems, agriculture, commercial and retail properties, hotels, and apartments. Along with Bill Elias, Jay won the first wind farm ad valorem trial in the State of Oklahoma.

Jay received a B.S. in Business Administration and a M.B.A. from Oklahoma State University and a J.D. from Oklahoma City University. He is a member of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, the Oklahoma City Mineral Lawyers Society, and the Tax, Mineral, and Real Property Law Sections of the Oklahoma Bar Association.
Jay W. Dobson, Esq.

Cecilia Hyun, Esq.

Cecilia J. Hyun is a partner at Siegel Jennings Co, L.P.A., based in the Cleveland office. Her practice is focused on real estate tax assessment in Ohio. She is experienced in handling client portfolios for all commercial property types: retail, industrial, hotel, apartments, health care, and affordable housing located in multiple states. She helps review property tax values, assess appeal strategies, defend against increases in tax assessments, and evaluate potential property tax implications of acquisition/disposition. She works closely with taxpayers to tailor strategies specific to their needs and priorities.

In addition to representing taxpayers before various county boards of revision, the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals, and the Ohio Supreme Court, she has written professional articles on state and local taxation issues. Her article, "Ohio Supreme Court Affirms That It is the Fee Simple Interest to Be Valued for Real Property Tax Purposes" was awarded the 2018 IPT Property Tax Article of the Year. Cecilia received her B.A. from McGill University in Montreal and her J.D. from the Cleveland State University College of Law. She is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, CREW Network, and IPT.


Kieran Jennings, CMI, CRE is Managing Partner at Siegel Jennings Co., L.P.A. Previously a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Kieran focuses his practice on real property taxation and general state and local tax litigation. He has successfully tried cases before administrative boards, tribunals, courts, and appellate courts, including the Ohio Supreme Court. Kieran has experience in managing real property tax appeals throughout the U.S. and Canada and assists clients in due diligence property acquisitions, tax planning, and structured agreements between taxpayers and taxing jurisdictions.

Kieran is the Vice President and a member of the Executive Board of the American Property Tax Counsel (APTC), a national organization of which Siegel Jennings is a founding member. Kieran is Vice Chair for the Central and Northern Ohio Chapter of the Counselors of Real Estate and previously served on the Board of Directors for the Northern Ohio Chapter of NAIOP. Kieran regularly conducts seminars and workshops on various property tax issues for industry groups like the National Retail Round Table, The Ohio Society of CPAs, Institute for Professionals in Taxation (IPT), National Business Institute, and Lorman Education Service.
Kieran Jennings, Esq.

Kathleen Poole, Esq.
For close to five years, Kathleen represented clients in the State of California (including a number of fortune 500 companies) in all aspects of employment law, from compliance to advice to litigating in state and federal court. Kathleen was a member of a three-person trial team that won a unanimous jury verdict in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Kathleen's practice now encompasses a variety of assessment and property taxation matters for both private and public sector clients throughout Ontario and Canada.

Kathleen represents taxpayers and municipalities before the Assessment Review Board and Superior Courts in valuation disputes for all types of properties including office buildings and industrial properties. She advises clients on all matters relating to assessment and municipal taxation.

Timothy A. Rye is a litigator who advises clients on real estate valuation and property tax appeals. He advises on all aspects of the property tax appeal process, including: reviewing properties for potential success on appeal, filing appeals and all statutory disclosures, researching market data, preparing analyses for negotiations, negotiating resolutions, and litigating appeals if necessary. Tim represents a broad range of clients, including real estate investors, owners, developers, property and asset managers, corporations, and individuals with real estate holdings.

Tim started his career in real estate as a commercial real estate appraiser, where the majority of his appraisals were used in litigation. Tim is still a licensed Certified General Appraiser and, although he no longer prepares appraisals for clients, he employs his extensive knowledge and experience in valuation matters for clients every day.

As an attorney, he has represented clients in property tax appeals for retail, industrial, office, corporate headquarters, special use, and many other property types. He also has substantial experience in eminent domain matters, valuation disputes, and other property tax matters such as open space, green acres, conservation easements, and contamination tax issues.

Timothy Rye, Esq.

Linda Terrill, Esq.
Linda Terrill, Esquire is the current President of the American Property Tax Counsel. She is a partner with the law firm Property Tax Law Group, LLC where she is Co-Chair of the Real & Personal Property Tax Law Section. She has over 30 years of experience in state and local tax issues including real and personal property taxes, sales/use taxes and state income taxes.

Formerly, Ms. Terrill served as the General Counsel for the Kansas Court of Tax Appeals. As a member of the American Property Tax Counsel, she serves as the Chair of the Seminar Committee, Chair of the Marketing Committee and as the representative for the state of Kansas.

She is a frequent speaker and author in the field of property tax and valuation. She served on the national Legal Committee of the International Association of Assessing Officers and was a former President of the Administrative Law Section of the Kansas Bar Association.

Ms. Terrill is a graduate of Kansas University, Washburn University, and Washburn University School of Law. She earned her Master of Law in Taxation from the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

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Jul
11

2022 Annual APTC Client Seminar

The American Property Tax Counsel is proud to announce that Chicago, Illinois will be the site of an in-person meeting for the 2022 Annual APTC Client Seminar.


Save the Dates! October 19-21, 2022 - Fairmont Chicago, Millennium Park - Chicago, Illinois

THEME - Managing the Future in a Changing World

APTC seminars provide an exclusive forum where invited guests can collaborate with nationally known presenters and experienced property tax attorneys to develop strategies to successfully reduce and manage property taxes.

Event Information

This year's seminar will address recent developments and current trends in the areas of property taxation and real estate. We will bring together nationally-known economic, technological, appraisal, and legal experts to provide valuable insight on managing the future of property taxation in a system that continues to change based on economics and other influences.

See the Featured Speakers appearing at the 2022 Seminar.


Featured Speakers


Anthony Barna 

Anthony Barna is Managing Director and consulting appraiser for Integra Realty Resources-Pittsburgh. He has been actively engaged in valuation and consulting since 1991 and his practice specializes in complex assignments for litigation support, eminent domain, tax assessment and financing.


Mr. Barna us a certified general real estate appraiser in Pennsylvania and holds the MAI and SRA professional designations from the Appraisal Institute and the CRE designation from the Counselors of Real Estate. He has been qualified to provide expert witness testimony before courts throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as in Virginia, West Virginia and Connecticut. Mr. Barna was trained as a biomedical engineer at Boston University (B.S. 1984) and has a graduate degree in finance from Duquesne University (MBA 1988).

Economist and Futurist Kiernan "KC" Conway, CCIM, CRE, MAI is the mind trust behind Red Shoe Economics, LLC, an independent economic forecasting and consulting firm furthering KC's mission as The Red Shoe Economist by providing organic research initiatives, reporting and insights on the impact of Economics within the commercial real estate industry. KC is a nationally recognized industry thought leader and Subject Matter Expert with expertise in Macro Economics, Valuations, Ports & Logistics, Banking Regulation, Real Estate Finance, MSA level market monitoring, Environmental Risk Management, Housing Economics and Tax Appeals.

A proud graduate of Emory University with more than 30 years' experience as a lender, credit officer, appraiser, instructor, and economist; KC is recognized for accurately forecasting real estate trends and ever-changing influences on markets all across the United States. With credentials from the CCIM Institute, Counselors of Real Estate and the Appraisal Institute, KC currently serves as Chief Economist of the CCIM Institute and as an Independent Director for Monmouth REIT MNR.

He is a gifted and prolific speaker having made more than 850 presentations to industry, regulatory and academic organizations in the last decade, and has been published in many national and regional newspapers and journals with frequent contributions to radio and television programming.

KC Conway, MAI, CRE 


William R. Emmons, PhD

Bill Emmons is Lead Economist in Supervision at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and President of the St. Louis Gateway Chapter of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE). He conducts research and speaks frequently on topics including the economy, housing and mortgage markets, banking, financial markets, financial regulation, and household financial conditions.

Mr. Emmons received a PhD degree in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He received bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mr. Emmons is married with three children.

Pam is the Associate Presiding Judge for the Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa County, which is the fourth largest trial court system in the country. Prior to her appointment as the Associate Presiding Judge, Pam served as the Presiding Civil Judge, the Associate Criminal Presiding Judge, and the Associate Presiding Judge (Downtown) for Family Court. She chairs Arizona's Task Force on Jury Data Collection, Policies, and Procedures and the Statewide Jury Selection Workgroup. She also co-chaired the Maricopa County Superior Court's committee tasked with improving access to justice and reforming the Court's resource center. Her committee work also includes the Advisory Committee on the Rules of Evidence, the Steering Committee on Arizona Case Processing Standards, the Task Force on the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure, the Committee on Superior Courts, the Committee on Time Periods for Electronic Display of Superior Court Case Records, Data Quality Standards Committee, Our Courts Arizona, Arizona Task Force to Supplement Keeping of the Record by Electronic Means, National State Court Remote Jury Pilot Group, the Superior Court Records Retention Schedule Revision Committee, and the Civil Practice and Procedure Committee. Pam also serves on the Maricopa County Superior Court Jury Committee and chairs the Court's Data Integrity Committee. She was awarded the Chief Justice Outstanding Contributions to Arizona Courts Award in 2022, Judge of the Year by Phoenix Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (2021) and the Maricopa County Bar Association (2018), and the Mark Santana Award for exceptional contributions in law-related education (2008). Prior to becoming a judge, Pam worked as a partner at Bryan Cave LLP.

Pamela S. Gates


David Lennhoff, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS

David is a principal with Lennhoff Real Estate Consulting, LLC, which is officed in Gaithersburg, Maryland. His practice centers on litigation valuation and expert testimony relating to appraisal methodology, USPAP, and allocating assets of a going concern. He has taught nationally and internationally for the Appraisal Institute. International presentations have been in Tokyo, Japan; Beijing and Shanghai, China; Berlin, Germany; Seoul, South Korea; and Mexico City, Mexico. He has been a development team member for numerous Appraisal Institute courses and seminars and was editor of its Capitalization Theory and Techniques Study Guide, 3rd ed. He was the lead developer for the Institute's asset allocation course, Fundamentals of Separating Real and Personal Property from Intangible Business Assets, and edited the two accompanying business enterprise value anthologies. He also authored the Small Hotel/Motel Valuation seminar. David is a principal member of the Real Estate Counseling Group of America, a national organization of analysts and academicians founded by the late William N. Kinnard, Jr., PhD. He is a past editor-in-chief of and frequent contributor to The Appraisal Journal, and a past recipient of the Journal's Armstrong/Kahn Award and Swango Award.


Kevin Reilly serves as a Managing Partner for evcValuation LLC. In this capacity, he provides direction, technical support, and oversight on the valuation of complex income-producing properties.

Mr. Reilly has valuation experience in property tax valuation, purchase price allocation, insurance, pre-deal buy/sell, end-of-lease, pretrial and litigation support, and appraisal reviews. Properties he has appraised include power plants, utility property, oil refineries, petrochemical plants, pipelines, refined product terminals, telecommunications networks, cement plants, and general manufacturing and support facilities.

Mr. Reilly joined the appraisal industry in 2002 as an associate appraiser with American Appraisal Associates. From 2006 until 2009, he was a Vice President with Duff & Phelps working as a property tax consultant. In 2009, he rejoined American Appraisal and led an independent property tax valuation practice focused on energy-related properties. In 2015, Mr. Reilly founded evcValuation, which is focused on providing independent, unbiased appraisals of complex income-producing properties.

Kevin S. Reilly, ASA


Member Speakers


Jay W. Dobson, Esq.

Jay W. Dobson is a partner with the law firm of Elias, Books, Brown & Nelson, P.C. in Oklahoma City. His practice is focused primarily on property tax, oil and gas law, commercial litigation, and real property law. Jay has a diverse property tax practice including wind and solar, natural gas power plants, mining facilities, pipeline systems, agriculture, commercial and retail properties, hotels, and apartments. Along with Bill Elias, Jay won the first wind farm ad valorem trial in the State of Oklahoma.

Jay received a B.S. in Business Administration and a M.B.A. from Oklahoma State University and a J.D. from Oklahoma City University. He is a member of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, the Oklahoma City Mineral Lawyers Society, and the Tax, Mineral, and Real Property Law Sections of the Oklahoma Bar Association.

Mr. Fowler's practice includes representation of taxpayers in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey with respect to a wide variety of property types and valuation issues.

Brian has pursued appeals on Class A regional malls, Breweries, complex industrial, petroleum tank farms, corporate headquarters, apartments, hotel, cell sites, aviation hangers and properties affected by environmental contamination.

He has appeared before the New Jersey Tax Court, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas and the Supreme Court of New York. In addition to assessment appeal cases, Brian has also represented numerous clients in property tax matters involving exemptions, abatements, and farmland assessments. He frequently counsels clients with respect to property tax issues relating to the purchase and sale of real estate, and assisting clients with property tax projections for budgetary purposes.

Prior to joining GLG, he gained valuable experience clerking for Judge Peter D. Pizzuto J.T.C of the New Jersey Tax Court. Brian received his Juris Doctor from Widener University (1999), and a Bachelor of Science, cum laude, from Temple University (1996).

Brian Fowler, Esq.


Gilbert C. "Gib" Laite, III, Esq.

Gib Laite is an attorney at Williams Mullen who has practiced in the real estate, construction and commercial dispute areas for 38 years. He frequently assists clients with the negotiation and litigation of cases involving real and personal property taxes and the assessment of tax-exempt properties.

Gib graduated from the University of Southern Maine with a degree in Business Administration. After working in his family's real estate business, he attended Wake Forest University School of Law where he graduated cum laude. Upon graduation he clerked for the United States District Court before entering private practice where he started out trying condemnation cases and railroad title disputes. Over time his real estate and construction litigation experience led him to the property tax arena where he has for the past decade enjoyed success working on a variety of matters. Representative cases included but are not limited to industrial facilities, shopping malls, big box stores, apartment complexes, and office buildings. Gib is recognized by Best Lawyers of America in eight categories involving real estate, construction and litigation.

Paul Moore is a commercial litigator who practices primarily in valuation-related matters, including contract disputes, and state and local tax controversies. He has handled a wide variety of valuation matters, representing clients in business disputes, and property, transaction privilege and use tax disputes before state and local taxing authorities, the Arizona Tax Court, and the Arizona Court of Appeals and Supreme Courts. He is licensed in Arizona and Colorado.

He represents taxpayers owning state-assessed properties such as pipelines, telecommunications companies, electric generation facilities and airlines, and all types of locally-assessed real and personal property including hotels, shopping malls, department stores, high-rise office buildings and campuses, apartment complexes, theaters, residential subdivisions, commercial greenhouses, land and hospitals.
Paul is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, and enjoys an excellent reputation with his peers and the bench. As one judge noted, "Mr. Moore is a very experienced tax attorney. He is always prepared and professional in the courtroom. I recommend him very strongly."

Paul is originally from Manchester, England. He holds doctorate and undergraduate degrees in chemistry. He came "stateside" to Texas in 1986 for a year of teaching undergraduate chemistry, but while there he met his future wife Janet and the rest, as they say, is history. Paul became a US citizen in 1997. In his life before the law, he worked for 6 years as an environmental/analytical chemist for a Fortune 500 Company.

Paul Moore, Esq.


Cris K. O'Neall, Esq.

Cris K. O'Neall focuses his practice on ad valorem property tax and assessment counseling and litigation (appeal hearings and trials). For over 30 years he has represented a variety of California taxpayers in proceedings before county assessment appeals boards, the State Board of Equalization, the Superior Court, the California Court of Appeal, and the California Supreme Court. Cris received his J.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1986 and a B.A., summa cum laude, from Claremont McKenna College in 1982. He has represented property taxpayers in over a dozen California appellate court cases that resulted in published opinions, including DFS Group LP v. County of San Mateo (Court of Appeal, 1st Dist., 2019), Elk Hills Power LLC v. Board of Equalization (Calif. Supreme Court, 2013), and SHC Half Moon Bay LLC v. County of San Mateo (Court of Appeal, 1st Dist., 2014). Cris is active in the following professional property tax organizations: California Taxpayers Association (CalTax), Member, Board of Directors; California Alliance of Taxpayer Advocates (CATA), Chair, Board of Directors; and American Property Tax Counsel (APTC), Treasurer and California Member. In 2018, he received the "Advocate of the Year" Award from CATA for his leadership in amending several of California's Property Tax Rules, and in 2021 he received the "Lifetime Achievement" Award from CATA. Cris has co-authored the California Chapter of the American Bar Association's Property Tax Deskbook for over 20 years and he has published numerous articles on property tax matters. He is also the Co-Editor of the treatise Taxing California Property (4th Edition). Finally, over the past 30 years Cris has taught and spoken before many audiences on property tax-related topics.

Molly is a partner in the Chicago Office of Siegel Jennings, a national property tax law firm. She is a third-generation property tax attorney from Chicago. As a litigator and trusted advisor, she collaborates with Owners, Asset Managers, Acquisition teams and Tax Departments to identify, create and execute property tax reduction strategies. She becomes a member of her clients' management team. Her goal is to maximize and protect the full potential of real estate assets, minimize related tax liabilities, and resolve disputes with tax authorities and government entities.

Molly's client experience ranges from family owned 1031 portfolios to national commercial investment funds, including special use properties such as hospital campuses to multi-million-dollar manufacturing facilities.

Her comprehensive understanding of the commercial real estate market was developed in part through her time as a real estate broker in the Chicago area prior to starting her legal career. Molly regularly represents clients in hearings before review boards, local assessors' offices, the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, and the circuit courts.

Molly Phelan, Esq.


Steven P. Schneider, Esq.

Steve Schneider is an ad valorem property tax counselor and litigator. He has obtained several landmark decisions for property taxpayers through trials lasting as long as 130 days and as short as 1 day. His clients have received more than $100 million of property tax savings throughout the country. Steve works extensively with industrial, commercial, telecommunications, and energy taxpayers where thorough knowledge of the changing regulatory and business environments is essential for a proper presentation of a taxpayer's valuation case.

Lisa Stuckey is a partner in the law firm of Ragsdale, Beals, Seigler, Patterson & Gray, LLP, and is Chair of the Property Tax Group of the firm, as well as their Designated Representative in the American Property Tax Counsel. She has practiced in the area of property taxation for over 35 years, and for the past 23 years, her practice has been devoted exclusively to representing local, national, and international commercial and industrial taxpayers, on real and personal property tax issues, appearing for hearings, arbitrations, mediations, trials, and arguments in administrative tribunals, the Georgia Tax Tribunal, the Superior Courts throughout Georgia, and the Georgia appellate courts.

Ms. Stuckey frequently speaks on the topic of property taxation to attorneys for legal education seminars, and to industry groups. She also frequently writes property tax articles appearing in such publications as the National Real Estate Investor, and Southeast Real Estate Business, as well as the quarterly publication of the American Property Tax Counsel Newsletter.

Lisa Stuckey, Esq.


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American Property Tax Counsel

Recent Published Property Tax Articles

Nevada Experiences Property Tax Inequality

State's replacement-cost valuation methodology skews some property assessments, thwarting uniform and equal taxation.

Pivotal property tax rulings by the Nevada Supreme Court presume that strict adherence to valuation methodology ensures that similar properties are assigned similar taxable values. But what if the state's required...

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Dueling Valuation Methods Fuel Property Tax Disputes

As rising interest rates and other challenges worry commercial property owners with loans nearing maturity, a running theme in the real estate industry is to "survive until '25." For hotel owners, however, the year-to-year struggle to stay afloat has been ongoing.

Hoteliers that survived the industry's downturn from the COVID-19 pandemic...

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Seize the Property Tax Savings

Commercial property owners may still reduce taxes based on COVID-era interest rate cuts, but that window may be closing.

The Federal Reserve finally delivered a much-needed reprieve for investors by lowering the federal funds rate by 0.5% on Sept. 5. This reduction is especially welcome after an extended period of rapid...

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